Spirit of St. Louis Airport Information

Alderperson Honor Schiller represents Clarkson Valley on the Spirit of St. Louis Airport Community Committee. This committee was formed by the late County Executive Buzz Westfall and meets regularly to discuss issues pertaining to noise and community relations. This is an interim committee until the FAA Regulations Part 150 Noise Compatibility Study begins later this year.

The past Director of Aviation for Spirit of St. Louis Airport, Dick Hrabko, wrote the following letter for the Clarkson Valley Web page to provide background information and to inform residents of the correct procedure to follow when filing a complaint about loud or low flying aircraft:

“Thank you for your interest in the Spirit of St. Louis Airport and for serving on the County Executive’s Airport Community Committee. As a contiguous municipality, Clarkson Valley is at times impacted by the operations of the Airport and your concerns are important to us.

“The Spirit of St. Louis Airport has been located in the Chesterfield Valley for nearly forty years and has grown to become one of the most important air transportation facilities in the region as well as the nation. The Airport is designated as the ‘prime general aviation reliever’ airport for the St. Louis area and is home base to 500 aircraft, most of which are owned by St. Louis area corporations and individuals. Spirit’s uses include corporate, private, training, public service, charter, and freight operations. Aircraft authorized to use the Airport on a day to day basis are limited by weight restrictions thereby prohibiting large airline aircraft from using the Airport.

“In 1989 the Airport completed and implemented the recommendations of a Federal Aviation Regulations Part 150 Noise Compatibility Study. The study developed voluntary noise abatement and land use procedures which remain in effect today. Because 12 years have passed and residential development has grown tremendously to the south of the Airport, St. Louis County has committed to perform a new Part 150 study. This study will begin later this year and will take approximately two years to complete.

“The study will develop noise exposure maps which will depict the actual and future noise impacts in the areas affected by aircraft operations. It will also evaluate and recommend compatible land uses near the Airport and develop noise mitigation recommendations. It will be a very public process and include numerous opportunities for the public to participate in the process. Citizen committees will be formed from our surrounding neighbors including Clarkson Valley, who will work with the independent consultant in identifying problem areas and developing solutions.

“In the meantime, it is important that residents who experience loud or low flying aircraft call and file a complaint on the Airport’s dedicated ‘complaint line.’ These reports are valuable to us and our consultant in identifying areas of repeated noise impacts and will be evaluated during the study process. Aircraft fly over Clarkson Valley every day not only from Spirit but other regional airports such Lambert International. Residents are asked to call only those aircraft that are unusually loud or low. Reporting every aircraft that flies over or that is heard will only serve to build numbers on the complaint logs and make it more difficult for the consultant to evaluate the effects of Spirit traffic in the area.

“Residents are asked to use the following procedure when reporting loud or low flying aircraft:

“Call 314-223-8737 and state your name, address, phone number, time of the occurrence, and a brief summary of the complaint. Your call will be logged by Airport Management Services Inc., an independent consultant, and followed up on. If the aircraft in question can be identified by radar records or other means you will be notified in writing of the type aircraft and its altitude over your residence. If the aircraft is not identifiable, you will received a written response stating so. You may call in the report at any time; however, it is very important that the actual time of the occurrence be stated as accurately as possible.

“Your complaints will be posted a the end of each month on the Airport Web site at www.spiritairport.com. To access this information go to the website and click the ‘Information to Residents’ button.

“Residents who have questions or comments about the Airport are welcomed to us directly at 636-532-2222 or e mail us at spiritairport@yahoo.com.

“Again, thank you for your willingness to work with us in our efforts to be a good neighbor.”